Threadneedle Asset Management has launched a new European small-cap fund.

The UCITS III-compliant vehicle replaces Threadneedle's European Smaller Companies Crescendo Fund, which has now closed. The new European Smaller Companies Absolute Alpha Fund is managed by Philip Dicken, who heads the firm's Pan European Smaller Companies Fund and who also ran the now-shuttered Crescendo fund.

"With the dislocations of the past few years still fresh in investors' minds, the opportunity to add value through fundamental and valuation analysis with high-conviction long and short positions is considerable," he said.

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